50 and fabulous - A November, 2021 trip report - Updated 08-12-22 - FINISHED

[Ruthie5671]

What a great trip report. Looks like you had an amazing time.

Thanks so much for reading - we had a fabulous time!

 

[rdkeim]

Nice you got to see your fav show! I can't get too excited about seeing Kite Tails. I wouldn't go out of my way. Personally I would rate FOP ahead of Soarin but I do love both. Can't wait to hear where you decided to dine!

 

[gopherdame]

I liked your picture at the Tree of Life with the animal clouds. I had downloaded our photopass pictures but haven't done anything with them yet. It made me wonder if we had one like that, and we did. Thank you. I didn't even notice the clouds when I did the download. I will have to print that one for sure. I hope to make a scrapbook eventually.

 

[Jerzetta]

EnjoyI got your trip report. I agree abt the 50th merc. So disappointing.

 

[Ruthie5671]

Animal Kingdom - continued . . .
​

When we last left off, Tony and I had ridden all the rides and seen all the shows and it was time for dinner. In keeping with the theme of doing new things on this trip, we chose a restaurant that we had never been to before - Tusker House. And bonus for me is that it is character dining, which I think is absolutely adorable.

The restaurant used to be a buffet, but with the new changes, it is "all you care to eat" brought to you my the server. I have no allegiance to buffets vs. all you care to eat - the food is yummy either way to me. We checked into the restaurant a few minutes early and they got us seated pretty quickly. The cast member explained the process of the characters coming into the dining room and how pictures could be taken and what food would be served.

The meal included the following:

Starters - Assorted bread and African inspired salad​

Entree - Moroccan spiced beef, green curry shrimp, spit-roasted herb chicken and marinated pork​

Sides - Green beans/carrots/corn, jasmine rice, roasted potatoes and macaroni and cheese​

Dessert - Animal inspired desserts​

​

Dinner was good. The shrimp was pretty spicy, so neither Tony or I enjoyed that much. I don't eat pork, so Tony ate that primarily along with the macaroni and cheese (he might be 5 years old). I liked the beef the most and the veggies and potatoes. I just don't think that food with exotic spices work well for us. Tony has a delicate tummy and some of these things are just a no go. But there were characters!!











Daisy has the best fashion sense - who else could pull off purple eyeshadow with a brown dress??



And although I don't normally take food pictures, these desserts were much too cute to not take a picture. Unfortunately, they tasted just okay. I'm not sure if it was the end of the night and the desserts had sat out for a while, but there were a little dry and stale. But cute nonetheless.



After we settled the bill and headed back outside, the park was nearly empty. It was pretty cool actually. The lights were twinkling everywhere and there were very few people walking around. We scooted slowly towards the front of the park enjoying night air. We stopped at the Tree of Life and was just in awe of how beautiful it was at night.



And of course, one more shot of the Christmas tree as we headed out to the bus.



Just so pretty.

We made our way to the busses and it didn't take long for us to get loaded and back to the hotel. It was a full day at Animal Kingdom and we were both tired. Thankfully, the next day was our "rest day", which included a monorail crawl, fancy dinner and PARTY PARTY PARTY!!!

Stay tuned . . . .

#50andfabulous

 

[Ruthie5671]

Nice you got to see your fav show! I can't get too excited about seeing Kite Tails. I wouldn't go out of my way. Personally I would rate FOP ahead of Soarin but I do love both. Can't wait to hear where you decided to dine!

No, I don't think Kite Tails is worth going out of your way for. It was cute, but not FoLK worthy! Just put a new report up.

I liked your picture at the Tree of Life with the animal clouds. I had downloaded our photopass pictures but haven't done anything with them yet. It made me wonder if we had one like that, and we did. Thank you. I didn't even notice the clouds when I did the download. I will have to print that one for sure. I hope to make a scrapbook eventually.

Those animal clouds are hard to spot if you don't know to look for them but yes, they are so cute. I used to scrapbook all the time and just got out of the habit. I guess these trip reports are my scrapbooking!

EnjoyI got your trip report. I agree abt the 50th merc. So disappointing.

Thanks for reading. I was disappointed in the merchandise choices. I keep checking the Shop Disney website to see if there are new things available, but no luck yet.

 

[rdkeim]

Nice wrap up to your AK day! Sounds like Tusker was OK but not a big hit? We have reservations in March - we wanted to do 1 character meal with the grandsons. Wonder if the character encounters will change before then? We'll see. Either way it will be good (I hope since it's pretty pricey for 7 people). So nice to enjoy an almost empty park on your way out!

 

[Heluvsme]

Walking through the park at night is worth the price of admission in my opinion.
Good update!

 

[Ruthie5671]

Rest day/monorail crawl/PARTY!
​

We always put a rest day in the middle of our trip. Disney can be exhausting and I know that a non-park day can be the best way to relax and recharge for the back end of the trip. For this rest day, we just relaxed in the morning, had a monorail crawl and dinner plans and then the Very Merry Christmas Party at Magic Kingdom. Yes, I realize that is technically a "park day". But it's a party park day, so this was under the heading of new things.

We woke up that morning and it was another restless night for me. I just don't know why I couldn't rest comfortably. I tossed and turned and grumbled around most of the night. Tony slept peacefully and didn't hear me carry on. Of course a fireworks show could be going off and Tony wouldn't wake up. I wish I could sleep like that. Our plan for that morning was to do some laundry and get organized because we were moving to a new hotel tomorrow. We didn't need to bring everything to the new room, so we did some luggage juggling and was able to condense what we needed for the remainder of the trip in one suitcase. The other suitcase and the cooler went back in the van. It actually made things much easier the next day since we had consolidated.

We had previously roamed around the resort property, so I'm going to put those pictures in here now. It was a beautifully sunny day when we did this tour. Unfortunately, on party day, the clouds had come back. Oh mother nature, you are a snarly old woman! POP Century has a fabulous trail that goes all around their property. It has cute "did you know" signs and the theming of each section is absolutely amazing.





Love me some "Lady and the Tramp".



Yes, I had a Rubik's cube when I was a kid. I could only get one side to work and never solved more than that. My little brother thought we should just move the stickers around. That didn't work too well either. We lost some of the stickers!



"The Potato Heads - Mr. and Mrs."



As a genuine 80's girl, this was my most favorite section. There was 80's music playing at the pool and of course I had to sing.





I am a huge Miami Dolphins fan. So of course I had to take a picture of this sign.



The lake area was so pretty.

After we just relaxed and organized that morning, we hopped a bus to head over to Magic Kingdom. But first, had to refill my mug and take a selfie!



I had special shirts made for the Christmas party. You'll get a better picture of them later. Tony was a really good sport about it. I think way deep down he really loves all the crazy things I ask him to do. But he will never admit it.

We hopped on the bus and made our way over to the Magic Kingdom stop. But we just breezed by, because that was not our first stop. We had a specific first destination in mind.



Yes, the Contemporary. A hotel we have never stayed in and I cannot imagine it ever happening. We are just not deluxe resort kind of people. But I love visiting them and enjoying the things that do not cost way too much money.

See the clouds? It had been sprinkling on and off and had gotten a little bit chilly out. We had our ponchos and Tony had a jacket so we were prepared. Or so we thought! You'll have to stay tuned.

Up next - an early dinner, monorail crawl and sleeping for free at the Grand Floridian.

#50andfabulous

 

[Ruthie5671]

Nice wrap up to your AK day! Sounds like Tusker was OK but not a big hit? We have reservations in March - we wanted to do 1 character meal with the grandsons. Wonder if the character encounters will change before then? We'll see. Either way it will be good (I hope since it's pretty pricey for 7 people). So nice to enjoy an almost empty park on your way out!

The restaurant was very nice and the character interactions were fun. But the spices of the food just aren't our taste. It was expensive, but if you know that going in it's not too much sticker shock. The empty park was amazing. Not sure how we had never done that before.

Walking through the park at night is worth the price of admission in my opinion.
Good update!

The park at night and almost empty was just fantastic. I will definitely try and do that again for our next trip.

 

[SonnyEclipsesSpaceAngel]

Hey, just tuning into your trip report I love the storm trooper ECV very cute. I too miss the tumble monkeys at Festival of The Lion King... but the show is still amazing otherwise. I have not seen the new Kite Tails show yet, last time I went it was raining. I am hoping to catch it soon. I am looking forward to reading more about your awesome trip

 

[rdkeim]

Your day sounds pretty relaxing so far. It's a great plan when the trip is long enough to work in a rest day. Just not having to rush anywhere in the morning helps recharge your batteries. Sorry you didn't sleep well. No fun any time but especially on vacation. Hope your monorail crawl was fun and the party not a rain out!

 

[gopherdame]

I love a day off. Gives my legs a rest and I love getting in a little more swimming. Looking forward to the next update. Wanted to ask if Tony lost weight. Tell him he's looking good.

 

[Ruthie5671]

Rest day - continued . . .
​

When we last left off, we had arrived to the Contemporary Resort to begin our monorail crawl. It had gotten chilly and was drizzling on and off. The beautiful sun filled days that we had so far was not going to happen today. We poked around the Contemporary for a few minutes before checking in for our late lunch at Steakhouse 71.



Not my picture (sorry) but this is an accurate view of the entryway. We checked in with the cast member and they took my phone number and told us that we would get a text when our table was ready. We got a reservation for 2:20, with the last lunch reservation available at 2:30. This way we got the fabulousness of the restaurant and got to eat off of the (cheaper) lunch menu. We didn't wait very long and our table was ready. The dining room was surprisingly crowded given the late hour of the afternoon. The very nice cast member showed us to our table, which was actually a booth. I asked her if it was possible we could be seated at a regular table with chairs, as the booth just doesn't work for fluffy folks. She was very sweet and moved us over to a table further back in the dining room. It was actually a bit quieter back there, which was nice.

Since this was going to be our "meal" for the day (with the exception of snacks at the party), we both decided to order an appetizer and main dish. I ordered "French Onion Soup - rich beef broth, croutons, cheese" and Tony got "Steakhouse 71 Onion Rings - hand breaded with spicy ranch dipping sauce". The soup - OMG - cheese for days dripping over the bowl. It was steaming hot and warmed me up quickly. The onion rings were crispy and the dippy sauce was really good. For our entree's I ordered "Prime Rib Sandwich - shaved prime rib, carmelized onions, herb aioli, provolone cheese, arugula, horseradish cream" and Tony got "Crab Cake Sliders - lump crab cakes, old bay remuloude, tomato, pickled slaw, on a brioche bun". I have to say that Tony's meal was better than mine, only because the bread on my sandwich was really thick and crusty. After a few bites, I took all the meat and yumminess out of the bread and just ate it that way. It was much better. Both meals came with fries, which were also good. We lingered for a while as the dining room emptied and we were one of the last ones to leave. It was nice to just sit and chat and eat good food without having to run and catch a bus or the next ride. I love rest days!

After lunch, we hopped on the monorail and headed over to the Poly. I actually really enjoy riding the monorail and could just loop around over and over again. There are so many things to see and I think it's kind of fun. And no, I don't know why the height of the monorail doesn't bother me, but the flying tin of death scares me. I'm a puzzle. Once we got to the Poly, it was really crowded over there - like wall to wall people. I'm not sure what all that was about. We poked around a bit but it was really crowded. I wasn't even able to get a decent picture of the holiday decor. So I got us a couple of hot chocolates and we quickly decided to go over to the Grand Floridian.

Excellent choice.



I love this resort. It is so elegant and feels like a warm cup of tea. Does that even make sense? I took so many pictures.





I was surprised that there was no photo pass photographer there that day. I've seen where there is one taking pictures in front of the big tree. That would have been great. We roamed around and looked at the big gingerbread house.



Wow. I mean seriously wow. The picture doesn't even come close to how amazing it is in person. And it smelled so good over there.



All those amazing details.



Tony was really interested in going in and out of each store and looking around. I was not. I had not been sleeping well and really just wanted to find a quiet corner to just relax for a few minutes. So I parked the ECV and plugged her in - anticipating moving a lot later and had been moving a lot so far that day - and sat on one of those comfortable couches.

And fell asleep.

I'm not talking a little cat nap. I. Was. Asleep. The couch was comfortable and the dude was playing piano. Even though there were a lot of people around, there didn't seem to be a lot of chaos or loud voices. And I was out for a good hour. Tony finally came and woke me up and asked if I was okay and wanted to keep moving along because we had a party to get to. That was without a doubt the best hour of sleep I got on the whole trip. I'm not sure why sleep was something I was missing on that trip, but it didn't get any better as the week wore on. But this is how you can sleep for free at the Grand Floridian Resort and Spa!

I wiped the sleep out of my eyes and the drool off of my chin, made a dash to the ladies room and we were ready to move on. While I was snoozing, Tony spent more money on fancy cologne and some trinkets from the gift shop. I swear he spends more than I do.

We hopped onto the last leg of our monorail crawl back to wear we started - Magic Kingdom. This park is my sentimental favorite. If you have read my previous trip reports, you know that was always very special to my mom and she loved to "hug the castle". I get teary eyed the first time I round the corner and see the castle - every single time. And I hadn't seen her yet, so this had to be taken care of now! Even though we had gotten there about 45 minutes before the party guests were allowed in, the lines were long. We swirled around almost to a line close to the will call booth that didn't seem to be too long and we just waited. It was super fun to see the different ways people dressed up for the party. Lots of matching shirts. People in pajamas. Families dressed up like they lived in the North Pole. It was adorable. As for us, a friend of mine owns a boutique and she made us matching shirts.



Again, Tony was a trooper in wearing the shirt.

And he wore it again on Christmas day when we went to his sister's house!

While waiting for the gates to open, the rain began to come down. Just little sprinkles at first, but after a while, we had to put our ponchos on. It rained on and off all night long. Not how I had hoped things would work out for us, as this was the only time we would be at the Magic Kingdom for our entire trip. Or would it? You'll have to stay tuned to see what actually happens.

Up next - party! Rain! Party! Rain!

#50andfabulous

 

[Ruthie5671]

Hey, just tuning into your trip report I love the storm trooper ECV very cute. I too miss the tumble monkeys at Festival of The Lion King... but the show is still amazing otherwise. I have not seen the new Kite Tails show yet, last time I went it was raining. I am hoping to catch it soon. I am looking forward to reading more about your awesome trip

Thanks for reading along! The storm trooper ECV was very popular and Tony enjoyed all of the attention. And yes FoLK is amazing with or without the tumble monkeys. But I do miss them. I just put up a new post!

Your day sounds pretty relaxing so far. It's a great plan when the trip is long enough to work in a rest day. Just not having to rush anywhere in the morning helps recharge your batteries. Sorry you didn't sleep well. No fun any time but especially on vacation. Hope your monorail crawl was fun and the party not a rain out!

I am a strong advocate for rest days at Disney. Obviously we don't have to deal with the feet pain since we use the ECV's, but it is still busy days and resting makes the back half of the vacation so much more enjoyable. The monorail crawl was fun. The weather - well, you've read enough of my trip reports to know that Mother Nature has it out for us. Mean old biddie she is.

I love a day off. Gives my legs a rest and I love getting in a little more swimming. Looking forward to the next update. Wanted to ask if Tony lost weight. Tell him he's looking good.

We didn't do any swimming this trip. The weather was never warm enough to take a dip. I didn't even bring our bathing suits with us. Yes, Tony's weight fluctuates pretty regularly and he's down now. He likes to think he looks like Bruce Willis when he's slimmed down and Rick from Pawn Stars when he's got a bit of a tummy on him. Who knew I was married to someone so famous??? Or at least famous in his own mind.

 

[rdkeim]

Your day sounds awesome - so far. Yay for a nap. I call our Disney trips a "working vacation". Dang the rain. I hope you're still able to enjoy the party. We just got back from our family trip - seven of us. I told my DH I need a do-over

 

[cheryllarsen]

What an amazing trip! Thanks for sharing.

 

[cheryllarsen]

Great read. Thanks for sharing!

 

[Jess_VacayMode]

Love that Tony is wearing the matching shirts! He is a trooper for sure. Loving your trip report. I slept on the beach at the Poly one trip and it was the most amazing nap. I will have to try out the couches at GF, LOL.

 

[gopherdame]

We visited the Grand Floridian one trip. The gingerbread house was so neat. Your picture looks a lot like mine except for the flowers. I know we will never stay there, but it was fun to visit. I can't imagine falling asleep there though, but my husband could I bet. We went to the Christmas party too and had so much fun. The weather was so perfect and felt wonderful after coming from Minnesota. We even stayed until it closed.